


A Practical Zombie Apocalypse

by SteelDollS



Series: PZAP [1]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Cooking, Electronics, Gen, Power Outage, Practical Application of Survival Skills, Preparedness or Lack Thereof, Road Trips, Survival, Violence, Water Shortage, Zombie Apocalypse, bug in, bug out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-04-08 12:11:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4304511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteelDollS/pseuds/SteelDollS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaito. Meiko. Master. Riots break out, and Master's two Vocaloids must flee the city to seek safety. </p><p>Len. Rin. The power goes out, and the Kagamines must enact measures to protect their data and eventually restore online service. But they will need help.</p><p>"In the Zombie Apocalypse, there is no ice cream." The rating for this fic may increase without notice. Updates are sporadic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Seems like there's been a lot of fighting outbreaks like this, the last few days," Meiko sleepily entered the kitchen, her arms stretched out over her head at an angle. Kaito smiled sideways, indulgently at her.

"Master will scold you if you take too many naps in the middle of the day, and end up staying up too late at night, you know," The bluenette scolded mildly as he continued to rummage through the freezer for his favourite snack of ice cream.

Meiko snorted in an unladylike fashion, then flashed a grin at Kaito. "Master will scold /you/ if he finds out that you ate all the ice cream once again," she teased back. Kaito froze mid-motion, sweatdropped, and laughed a little awkwardly, but it didn't stop him from triumphantly pulling out a small container of Haagen Daaz with a delighted look on his face.

"So, where was the 'outbreak' this time, Mei-chan?" Kaito mumbled, still trying to be polite even with a spoonful of icecream solidly inside his mouth.

"News says it's at the mall this time. I guess it's pretty big, too," Meiko shrugged, as if it didn't concern her. "They had police all around the building, from what I could see, and people were even fighting /them./ What is the world coming to?"

Meiko turned her eyes lazily back to Kaito, who was frozen there. She frowned. Kaito swallowed his icecream and hurridly asked,

"Wait, what? /Our/ mall?" His voice was high. "Right /now/?"

"Uh, yeah," Meiko replied, still frowning. "What's wrong, Kaito?"

"That's where Master took Lily. They're still out!" Kaito spoke quickly, alarmed. He set the ice cream down on the counter and rushed to the living room to take in the news broadcast with an appalled, worried expression on his normally calm face.

The fake-excited news anchor was rattling on about a riot overtaking the local mall, how their news crew had been told by police they were now required to move back from the scene, but that the broadcast station would keep their viewers up to date with any and all updates in the breaking story.

Kaito turned wide, stricken blue eyes to Meiko. "We need to go find them! What if they're in trouble or got hurt?"

Meiko shook her head, also unnerved and rattled. "No, wait, Kaito. We shouldn't. Listen, if we go, and Master and Lily already got out okay, we'll only be making more trouble for them, getting ourselves into a dangerous situation too. Besides, I don't think we can get through that police barrier, even if they /are/ still inside. We should wait here for them to come back."

Kaito didn't like that, but he listened to Meiko. He turned his distressed eyes back to the news screen, where the announcer was now talking about some celebrity gossip. He sat down quietly on the couch with a clouded, worried expression.

"I know. I hate it too," Meiko offered very quietly and sat next to Kaito. Twin pairs of eyes anxiously watched the TV for more updates that didn't come, and kept one of each set of eyes on the front door. 

...

A car door slamming from out in front of the house had Kaito leaping up from the couch in an instant. The bluenette ran to the door to open it, but Master appeared first, his hand on the doorknob, and a haunted expression on his normally cheerful face. Kaito craned his head around Master's shoulder, but Lily was nowhere in sight. The bluenette opened his frowning, worried mouth to speak, but Master pushed past him somewhat rudely.

"Master? Are you okay? The news- Where's Lily?" Kaito asked Master's back as the man walked inside of the house and focused his eyes on Meiko, who had also come out to see.

Master's complex expression returned to Kaito's face. "I lost her. Listen, you two, I don't have much time to explain things to you, but we need to pack up some things and leave town. Right now. I promise I'll explain on the way."

Meiko and Kaito exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"What about Lily?" Meiko asked.

Master shook his head, and his face looked very troubled. "We can't wait. If you saw the news, you know what was going on in the mall?" Master paused and his two remaining Vocaloids nodded obediently. "It's not just at the mall. It's started happening all over. And the people... there's something really wrong with them. We need to leave before the roads get blocked off. I know you're worried about Lily. I am, too. But I'm also worried about you two. And right now, you two are the only ones here for me to protect. So just do as I tell you for now, and we'll figure out things later, once we're safely away. Do you understand?"

Again, two silent nods, somewhat slower in coming this time. Master sighed and ran a hand through his short-cropped hair.

"Okay, good. Listen. We need... uh, we need food, and toiletries. And clothes. Kaito, you get the small safe from under my bed. It has my gun and some money in it that we might need. Then get our toiletries. Meiko, you grab clothes that we might need. I'll pack up what food we can manage, and the two of you can help me lug everything out to the car. Do it fast. I want to be out of here ten minutes ago. Got it?" Master rattled off the long list, feeling his own head whirlwinding, hoping he wasn't forgetting something critical.

"Should I leave a note for Lily? In case she comes back? Telling her where we're going?" Meiko asked quietly. Master nodded after a second.

"Be quick, though. I don't know yet quite where we're headed, but I /do/ know that it's not safe to be in this city right now." Master replied tensely, then turned and went into the kitchen to start grabbing foodstuffs, not wasting a moment of time.

Kaito and Meiko exchanged worried glances, but swiftly went their two ways as well.

Meiko moved quickly, opening dresser drawers and starting to grab clothes at random before her common sense kicked in, and she wondered how many clothes to take. After a brief frozen pause, a pair of Kaito's underwear in her clenched hand, she decided that speed was more important than quantity, and that they could always wash out dirty clothes. She grabbed two sets of clothing for each of them; choosing comfortable and durable over fashionable, and grabbed extra sets of socks and underwear.

Noticing a big roll of duct tape on Master's dresser, Meiko grabbed it and just taped the whole mess of clothes together into one manageable bundle. Placing the rest of the tape on top seemed like a good idea. Duct tape was a many useful thing, after all. She started back towards the front door, but paused at the bathroom, and went inside, despite knowing that it was Kaito's job to get the toiletries.

The shampoo and deodorants were already gone, but the toilet paper roll was still on its cradle. Meiko put the clothing bundle down and hurridly grabbed the trashcan from the side of the toilet, flinging the bag inside, trash and all, haphazardly into the tub of the shower. 

Armed with an empty basket, she tossed the toilet paper inside, then opened the medicine cabinet and swept everything she could reach from inside into the small trashcan. Bandaids, antibiotic cream, muscle cream, tylenol, aspirin, and antacids, among other small things they rarely used all spilled into the empty can, and Meiko did a quick visual sweep before turning, grabbing the clothes bundle in her other hand, and hurrying to rejoin the others.

Master's eyes fell briefly on the wastebasket, and nodded at Meiko. "Good thinking, Meiko. I know there are probably a lot of other things here we could use, but we need to go. We'll worry about the replacable stuff later. Kaito's already helping bring stuff out to the car. You help, too."

Master grabbed a trashbag full of foodstuffs in one hand and Meiko's recently purchased pack of beer in the other hand and balanced the two things awkwardly as he went quickly to the door. Meiko raised her eyebrows that Master was taking her beer along, but it made sense: fluids plus calories. Besides, beer was practically her second food group.

Checking to make sure the note for Lily was still on the counter, Meiko followed Master closely from behind.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere in the car was tense as Master slammed the trunk with a sound of finality and yanked open the driver's door to slide inside. The rumbling of the engine sounded ominous as Meiko and Kaito exchanged silent glances again, wondering if they were really doing this. Really leaving Lily behind.

Master pulled out of the driveway and sped. Meiko's eyes widened a little bit. Master always followed the speed limit. Her hands clenched into small fists, and Kaito touched his hand against one of them, staring into her eyes worridly, but trying to convey she wasn't alone in this. Meiko tried to show her appreciation in her eyes, but all she felt was apprehension. This situation was clearly abnormal, and it was causing everyone in the vehicle anxiety.

The drive was quiet and not problematic for several long minutes. Master flicked on the radio, scanning for something. Maybe the news? But all that played were disjointed, crappy songs. When the first stoplight came into view, Master slowed the vehicle, pale tension on his face from the red light.

Kaito lifted his head, frowning. Somewhere up ahead he could hear a confusion of noise. He peered his blue eyes out the window, straining to see, but couldn't make out what was causing the ruckus.

The light turned green after a short eternity, an Master put the pedal to the metal. Kaito's anxious eyes widened suddenly as the appearance of the noise came into view.

A group of people, grabbing at men and women clothed in police uniforms, biting, clawing, yanking at them viciously. The uniformed men and women were screaming, shining red fluid was splattering everywhere, and the half-placed roadblocks littered the road.

Kaito turned huge eyes to Master, but his Master's face was tense, his jaw clenched, and he didn't let up off the gas at all. "Master!" Kaito shouted out in alarm.

Meiko grabbed Kaito's hand in a death grip and she braced for impact with one of the barriers as Master slammed through the mess, not stopping to try to help the officers, and just swerving enough to try to miss the writhing mass of bodies fighting each other. The roadblock that Master couldn't quite miss exploded out of the way as the vehicle collided with it, and then kept on driving.

"I-is it like that? In other places around the city?" Kaito asked after a long, long, quiet moment, as they left the scene of violence behind, sounding badly shaken.

Master nodded tersely. "Yeah. Sorry, guys. I didn't want you two to have to see that kind of thing."

Kaito swallowed dry. Meiko's clenched hand under his palm was turning white with the force he was using to hold it with. She put her other hand on top of Kaito's wrist, meeting his eyes, and he released her hand with some difficulty.

Master went back to fiddling with the radio selection, and Kaito and Meiko stared blankly outside their windows, on the alert for more dangerous situations that might appear before them. When the car passed the "Welcome to Our City!" sign, Master sighed in a little bit of relief.

...

They drove and drove, stopping for gas once. The gas station had its own television on, and as Meiko returned from using the disgusting bathroom, to meet Master and Kaito in the convenience store portion of the gas station, her eyes and ears caught on the "Breaking News Bulletin" that was flashing over the screen.

"All over the state, there have been reports flooding in of an explosion of riots! Police have issued a mandatory lockdown on the following cities. Authorities recommend that if you live in one of these cities, to lock your doors and do not leave your home..." The broadcaster droned on in a voice filled with fake excitement.

Meiko glanced over and met Master's eyes. Kaito stared at the screen, his face pale as their own city's name was indeed on the mentioned list. Master swallowed, and looked around the convenience shop, debating for a moment.

"Well, I'll feel stupid later if this gets cleared up in a day, but..." Master mumbled, and reached out to grab an armful of assorted snacks. "Most of our food needs preparation, you know? I guess it won't hurt to eat unhealthily once in a while. Right? Like, as a treat, because of the circumstances..."

Master trailed off and Meiko's face crumbled. Their Master, the health nut? Who complained about white rice versus brown rice? He had his arms full of ding-dongs, snack crackers, and a single can of Spam. The world had officially gone insane, as Master dumped his load onto the counter and waited for the bored cashier to ring him up.

"If you want to grab something too, Meiko, Kaito..?" Master offered quietly. Meiko's fists tightened and she swallowed, turned to scan the shelves for anything that looked 'good.' A couple cans of ravioli with easy open tops and a pair of family-sized bags of chips was her contribution. Meiko nudged Kaito.

"Do you want to get some ice cream, Kaito?" Meiko asked in an undertone. Kaito turned his head and uncharacteristically shook his head 'no.' Meiko frowned deeper, her anxiety skyrocketing. She /needed/ the normalcy of Master's and Kaito's normal characters.

Bossing her way past Kaito's shoulders, Meiko plucked out three ice cream bars from the freezer section and made it back to the cashier just as he was finishing ringing up the rest of their purchases. She slapped the items down on the counter, daring Kaito to say no.

Master glanced at Meiko, but said nothing about the addition of the ice cream. The total of their purchases made Master blanch a little bit, but he bit his tongue and paid the cashier with plastic, and let Kaito grab the bag with their items as his Vocaloids followed him back outside.

The radio in the car had caught up to the news bulletin on the TV, and instead of the music they hadn't wanted, news now blared from the station. Meiko rummaged inside the grocery bag and pulled out the ice cream bars, shoving one uncerimoneously at Kaito, and offering one to Master from the back seat. Master took it and ate silently as he pulled out of the gas station, back onto the main road, listening to the radio.

Kaito was staring at the ice cream in his hands as if it might grow legs and start to walk away. Master watched him with concern in the rearview mirror.

"Kaito," Master's voice broke Kaito from his reverie, "After you eat your ice cream, do you want to use my cell and try to call home? Just in case?"

Kaito's blue eyes widened and he hung his head for a moment, then shook his head up and down in a 'yes.' "Thank you, Master. I just..."

Master's anxious face softened. "Yeah, I know. Me too. Meiko too. But we're in this together. Besides, it would be a shame to waste the ice cream, right? It might make you feel a little better to have something in your stomach, too."

Kaito nodded again and quietly tore his ice cream open. The car continued down the road at a good speed, bearing them farther and farther from home, as the newscaster on the radio added another two cities to the current lockdown list.


	3. Chapter 3

The phone rang, rang, rang. No answer. Kaito's face fell and he stared down at Master's cell phone in his hand. His face turned a little more determined, and he pressed the 'redial' button. Again. Again. Again.

After several minutes of this, Kaito's lips pursed together stubbornly, Master held his hand back out to Kaito from the front seat of the car. "You can try again later, okay? Let me put it on the car charger for now. I didn't think to grab the normal cell phone charger when we packed our things, and I don't want the battery to run out. Okay, Kaito? I'm sorry she didn't pick up, but... maybe it's a good thing. Maybe she didn't answer because she got out of the city, too."

Master tried to make his voice light, encouraging, but he didn't sound like he really believed his own words. Kaito dropped the phone silently back into Master's hand and watched as Master fiddled around, one-handedly, to hook it into the car charger.

"I'm sorry, Kaito," Meiko said quietly. Kaito met Meiko's eyes, then dropped his eyes downwards, before turning to stare out the window again, moodily. Meiko watched the bluenette for a moment, then followed suit to stare out her own window once again. The sounds of the intermittant news broadcast provided an almost-unwelcome background noise.

It was almost an hour later when Meiko spoke up again. Kaito jolted at the unexpected sound of her voice overriding the radio. "Master? How far are we going?"

Master was silent for a long moment, before meeting her brown eyes in the rearview mirror seriously. "The cities listed on the broadcast are spattered all over the state. I think we should go as far out of state as we can get. ...I don't know whether they'll let us through, though."

Meiko mulled this over for a while.

...

There was a blocade in the road. This time, instead of a flurry of violent activity, there were a few police officers glaring at them as Master drove the car cautiously forward, slowing his vehicle down as he got close enough to speak to the closest officer from his window. Kaito tensed as Master hit the 'lock all doors' button on his door's controlpad.

The officer strolled cockily up to Master's cracked window. "You can't come through here. Turn around."

"What's happening? I didn't hear that this road was going to be blocked on the radio?" Master tried asking, and the officer frowned and touched his weapon on his belt. Master drew back a little in the car, appalled.

"Turn around. The road and the city ahead are blocked off. Go back to your home." The officer all but barked his repeated directions. Master opened his mouth to try one more time to speak to the police officer, but got such a vicious look in return that he instead only nodded, very discouraged and now worried, and put the car into reverse gear as the officer refused to back away to allow him room to do a U-y.

"Master?" Kaito ventured very quietly.

"No, it's... just..." Master seemed at a loss for words for a moment. "That's the main road out of the state. If /it's/ closed off, I... well, maybe we can find a backroad, or something. Right?"

Master was trying to be encouraging, trying to be positive, but his voice sounded too worried to give either of the Vocaloids in his backseat any comfort. Master fiddled with the glovebox, swearing lightly under his breath as everything fell out haphazardly. He grabbed at the map he had gone after, and offered it up to the backseat. Meiko reached out and took it.

"Look on there, will you? See if you can see any good alternate routes for us to take," Master instructed, giving Meiko a little relief from her anxiety. Finally, something she could /do./

Once Meiko got her bearings of the map, her eyes skimmed the roads as per Master's instructions.

"Oh- I think if we take the next left turn, we can use some backroads to bypass that main road, Master!" The triumphant statement was accompanied by a flush on Meiko's face. Master smiled into the rearview mirror.

"That's good, good, Meiko. Just guide me how we need to go, okay? We're going to get out of this okay. We'll be okay. Just hang in there a little longer." Master's voice gained a little confidence at the new information. "Okay, Kaito?"

The bluenette nodded, cleared his rusty throat, and said, "Yes, Master."

Gripping the steering wheel with new resolve, Master noticed the upcoming turn and moved his wheel left.

...

Master sweatdropped as he noticed the sun starting to set through the trees. "Uh, Meiko, how much farther does this road go? I'm thinking it might be kind of a bad idea to be driving in the dark when we can't see what's around us very well. And, ah, I haven't seen any houses in at least the past few miles."

"Sorry, Master, but it's a winding backroad for a reason. If the last main exit hadn't been blocked we could have gotten through to the next city already, but..." Meiko trailed off, squinting at the map through the fading sunlight.

"Maybe there's a hotel or something nearby? I don't like the idea of sleeping in the car tonight very much. I think we need walls," Master mused as his eyes continued to scan the long row of trees that grew lush on either side of the narrow road. His eyes caught on a sharp corner through the trees, and blinked, looked again.

"Hey, I think that may be a house, right there. Do you think we should try to stop and ask for directions?" Master asked, his grip tightening on the wheel. There was no way to tell whether it would be safe to approach an unknown house, or whether the people inside would be friendly to interact with, but...

Meiko put the map down with a slightly frustrated sigh, and massaged her temples with her fingers. She adjusted slightly in her car seat. Her butt ached from staying in one place too long, and her bladdar was uncomfortably full.

"I could use a bathroom, honestly, Master," Meiko admitted with a little awkwardness.

"Me, too, Master," Kaito piped up very softly from his own seat. Master smiled back with a little embarassment as he agreed, shifting in his own seat as well.

"I think this driveway might be the one," Master guessed, which was likely, seeing as it was the only turn they'd come across for quite some time. The narrow, long driveway was as winding and twisty as the road had been, and was paved only in dirt and rocks. As the car moved forwards, a dark, wooden cabin appeared. The dying sunlight illuminated it. There were no cars in the driveway.


	4. Chapter 4

Master turned in his seat, "You two stay in here while I go knock on the door."

Meiko and Kaito both nodded, and Master unlocked his door, opened, relocked it, and closed it, leaving the keys on the driver's seat, just in case. The Vocaloids' eyes watched him carefully as he made his way up the overgrown path to the porch and knocked on the door once, waited, knocked again.

After several long moments, Master reappeared at the car door, and Kaito twisted his body to unlock Master's door for him from the inside.

"Thanks, Kaito," Master said as he slid back inside and closed his door, locked it again, and turned to face the backseat. "I don't think there's anybody home. There's no car here and... I think it's been quite a long time since anybody's been here to cut the grass, either. I'm not particularly keen on keeping on driving..." Master trailed off, thinking.

"I realize it's trespassing, but what do you think about seeing if maybe we can get inside, and at least use their bathroom, maybe stay the night? I don't think anybody will come and even notice we're here," Master asked.

"You mean, like break in?" Meiko tried to keep the scandalous tone out of her voice. "/You/ want to, Master?"

Master sweatdropped. "What do you take me for, a soul so virtuous that I won't even look out for me and mine in an emergency situation? I'm not saying we should necessarily break the door down, but... maybe we could check to see if any of the doors or windows are unlocked."

It was hard to argue with Master's logic, even though it felt really awkward to consider breaking into someone else's home... or summer home, maybe? Meiko shook her head, shrugged her shoulders, and glanced at Kaito's worried face before nodding.

"I'd certainly rather a real bathroom to squatting in the woods, anyways," Meiko admitted to herself as her bladdar complained again, somewhat painfully this time. Master smiled a little as if she had uttered a joke, then unlocked all their doors and waited while his Vocaloids got out of the car.

Kaito moved his creaky joints uncomfortably, loosening up his muscles from sitting in one place too long. Master removed his cell phone from its charger and slipped it back into his pocket, then left the car unlocked, since its most precious cargo was already outside of the vehicle.

Just to be on the safe side, Master knocked one last time on the front door, then announced himself out loud before trying to open the door. It was locked in his hand. Master frowned.

"Meiko, check the windows, maybe? Kaito, look around and see if you can find a spare key hidden anywhere," Master commanded.

Kaito looked around the overgrown vegetation and under a few somewhat large rocks that were next to the house. Meiko pulled at the nearest window, then the next. The third window, towards the back of the house cracked open triumphantly, and Meiko grinned.

"Master, this window is unlocked! I can get in, I think," Meiko pushed the window upwards as far as she could reach, but waited for Master before trying to make a leg up.

"That's great, Meiko!" Master enthused as he appeared from around the side of the house, Kaito in tow. "Do you want a boost?"

Meiko nodded, and Master knelt on the ground, offering his clasped hands as a stepping stool. Meiko stepped lightly upwards, grabbing the windowframe with her hands, and carefully lifting herself inside of the cabin.

The dying light from outside wasn't enough to illuminate the room, and Meiko couldn't make out the light switch. "I'm inside! But I can't see," she reported back through the window.

Master dug around in his pocket and brought his cell phone out, flipping the screen on to provide a weak source of light, then handed it over to Meiko through the open window. "Try to get to the front door and open it up for us, okay, Meiko?"

Meiko nodded and took the device. Scanning the room's walls with it, she located the light switch on the wall, and held her breath as she flipped the switch 'on.' Meiko smiled brilliantly as the light flooded the room. Meiko lowered the cell phone and walked through the room, turning on the other light switch that she found, and unlocking the deadbolt from the inside of the front door.

"Nice job, Meiko!" Master praised her, and Meiko flushed in pleasure. Kaito smiled a small smile at her, too, and she turned her eyes to the ground in growing pleasure at the gesture from the anxious bluenette.

"Let's check it out first, then bring our things in," Master continued to speak as he admired that there was electricity in the cabin.

The stale air in the cabin reassured both Master and his Vocaloids that the cabin had, indeed, been unused for some time. The Vocaloids hovered at Master's back as he checked the cabin out. As Master discovered the single bedroom off the main room with its queen sized bed, he nodded. As he noticed the bathroom, he exclaimed, "Shotgun!" and rushed forwards, leaving the other two behind him.

Meiko facepalmed as Master closed the door rudely behind him. "Shotgun is for cars, Master!" She called through the door, a little disgruntled at her bladdar's fullness being forced to wait.

The sound of urination followed by the sound of the toilet flushing and the sound of the bathroom faucet turning on was a short torture of fluid sounds, before Master reappeared, refreshed, a grin on his face, making him look more youthful than he was.

"Your turn," Master announced, shamelessly.

"Gee, thanks," Meiko replied dryly, but didn't waste any time going into the bathroom, just in case Kaito decided to go in first and make her wait even longer. Kaito's appalled face at being forced to wait and be the last one to empty his bladdar was priceless as Meiko shut the door on him.


	5. Chapter 5

Kaito finished opening the rest of the windows in attempt to air out the stale cabin. Master nodded in approval as he returned from the porch, groceries in hand. Meiko followed closely behind him, holding their clothes and the bags from the convenience store.

"That's good, Kaito. We'll close them back up before we to to sleep, and make sure they're locked. I don't /think/ anyone will try to get in... it's rather far out of the way, but no need to take any unnecessary chances. Meiko, can you grab what's left from the car while I start to put our groceries away?" Master instructed.

Meiko nodded and turned to go back out the door once her clothing bundle and plastic bags were placed down on one of the chairs decorating the "main room" of the cabin.

Master opened the cupboards of the cabin and inspected their current contents. Most of the shelves were bare, which was a little disappointing. One shelf held a jar of peanut butter, a battered box of what looked like very old baking soda, and a round container of iodized salt. The shelf above it held two 6-packs of ramen noodles. One of the six-packs was open and two of the noodle packets were gone. Master sweatdropped.

"It's a good thing we brought our own food," Master mused thoughtfully, and pulled the peanut butter from the shelf, opened it, and winced, quickly recapped it. Rancid. Checked the date. It had expired two years ago. "This is not my idea of fine dining."

Master checked the dates on the ramen, just in case. It would be good to have a backup for their food. He smiled, then felt awkward at the smile, as he noted that the ramen noodles, at least, were still in date. Awkward because the notorious health-nut was almost infamous for his disapproval of the little packages currently held in his hands. Master returned the noodle packet to the shelf, and, after ascertaining that the rest of the pantry cabinets were bare, started to pull their own groceries out and put them on the shelves.

A half-empty 12 pound bag of short grain brown rice. A small assortment of dried legumes. A small container of chia seed. A large tub of coconut oil, unopened. Three boxes of assorted cereal, in various states of consumption. A container of textured vegetable protein. A round container of dry protein shake. A package of walnuts. Onions. Spices. A nearly full 3-lb bag of red, organic potatoes. A bag of unopened popping corn.

Master finished squaring the items on the shelves, and reached in to the bag with the fresh groceries. A near-dozen now-room-temperature carton of organic eggs. Celery. A few mangos. A couple avocados. A bag of red apples. A single, sad, now-bruised kiwifruit. Half a pound of organic carrots. Scattered at the bottom of the bag were half a dozen protein bars, that Master sometimes grabbed for a meal when there wasn't enough time to cook.

There was no rhyme or reason to the food Master had taken. He had just grabbed at whatever caught his attention and shoved everything that touched his hands into one of the two bags. With a dawning feeling of 'I think I forgot something very important,' Master realized that while he had brought food... he had forgotten pots to cook with, dishes and utensils to serve with, and a sponge to clean up with.

Hopefully, Master checked the cabinets on the bottom of the kitchen, praying that he wound uncover leftovers from the rightful occupant. Even one pan would be enough, really. Master's appalled face as Meiko hovered near him, waiting for his attention, made the female Vocaloid blink.

"Master, what's wrong?" Meiko asked, concerned and a little alarmed. Kaito's blue head turned and he joined them, staring at Master in worry as the older man slowly pulled from the lower cabinet a single frying pan, cast iron... a fine sheen of orange rust over the whole thing.

"I forgot our pans," Master lamented woefully and turned his depressed eyes back to the single, heavy pan in his hands.

Meiko smiled a little in spite of herself, relaxing her nerves, and winking conspiratorially at Kaito, as if to say, "Our Master, huh?" Kaito grinned nervously back, and his encouragement gave Meiko a boost of confidence.

"It's okay, Master. The important thing is that we're safe, right?" Meiko encouraged, squatting down to Master's level and smiling.

"Yes... you're right of course, Meiko... it's just, most of our food needs to be cooked. I wonder if we can find anything to scrape the rust off with..." Master mumbled to himself and gave the pan the hairy eyeball, as if to threaten it into compliance.

"Kaito and I will look around, okay?" Meiko turned back to the bluenette and smiled again. Kaito shook his head yes.

"Okay," Master said, and returned his eyes to the carton of lukewarm eggs. "Well, I can do something about these, anyways," Master muttered under his breath as he rose, and pulled the salt and the coconut oil from the upper cabinets.

While Master carefully used his clean fingers to coat each egg in a thin layer of oil and then rolled them in a fine layer of salt to preserve them and keep the air out, Meiko and Kaito went exploring.

The cabin was actually pretty bare. In the coat closet, Kaito found a slightly dusty backpack, flopped over in half. He grabbed it and was about to close the door when he spied something on the upper shelf. Rummaging around with his hand produced a wooden-handled hammer, a package of sandpaper squares, and a tin can half-filled with assorted sizes of nails and a few random screws.

"I found some hand soap in the bathroom," Meiko announced as she returned to Master's side, holding the item in question up for inspection. "And half a container of bleach, it still smells pretty good. Would either of those help?"

Kaito returned as well, and offered up the items in his own hands. Master's eyes scanned the collection, and a light bulb went off over his head as he grabbed the sandpaper.

"I think I remember my great-aunt saying one time that you could get rust off of metal with sandpaper. And we can use the soap to wash it off after. Good job, you two!" Master beamed at his Vocaloids. "You guys really come through in a crisis, don't you?"

Kaito and Meiko flushed bright pink in delight at the unexpected praise. "Thank you, Master," Kaito smiled a little shyly back at Master. Meiko just nodded, embarassed, and turned her amber eyes elsewhere, pretending not to be as pleased with the positive attention as she was.


	6. Chapter 6

Master sighed down at the pan in his hand in dismay. Scrubbing the cast iron frying pan with the sandpaper had sounded like a great idea, but several minutes of application had resulted in nothing more than a fine sheen of orange iron rust covering his previously clean hands, and there was still more rust he just couldn't get out.

Master put the pan down in mild annoyance, and rubbed his shoulder, rotating the joint. 'My idea of working out does not include the use of elbow grease. Why couldn't the pan be able to get fixed by taking a jog or riding a stationary bike?' Master thought darkly at the object in question.

"Kaito? Do you want to take a turn at this?" Master gestured as the bluenette popped his head over Master's shoulder. "It's being stubborn."

Kaito nodded and took the heavy piece of cookware from Master's relieved hands.

"Do you think you can make the TV work?" Meiko asked Master as he joined her in the main living area. The blank box stared back at them, the screen was dark. "I tried the remote, but it won't switch on."

"What do I look like, a magician?" Master sweatdropped. Meiko frowned a little at him, and Master ran a rust-covered hand through his hair before he realized his mistake. Meiko grinned as Master stared down at his now-less-dirty hand, appalled. "Arrgh. Fine, fine, let me take a look, anyways."

"That look is good on you, Master," Meiko couldn't help a gentle ribbing as Master pulled the TV out and inspected the back. He checked the cables, to make sure none of them were loose. He hit the power button on the TV itself, and nothing happened. Master frowned thoughtfully, then his eyes trailed down along the power cord to the wall. He grinned suddenly, and put the TV back, walked to the end of the cord, and plugged the appliance into the wall.

Walking back to the TV, he hit "Power" again, and grinned shamelessly at Meiko. "Behold, the master magician."

Meiko literally facepalmed. "...Right. Thank you, Master." She said, utterly embarassed, and not even giving him a hard time for his terrible joke. Meiko raised the remote control and used it to flip through the channels.

"Wait, go back," Master suddenly said, and Meiko turned back one channel. "Leave it here for a moment, Meiko."

Running on the bottom of the screen as if for a school closings list on a snow day, ran another type of list, over and over again. Names of local cities flashed across the bottom of the screen. Dozens of them. Some of the names were familiar. The three had been listening to their names on and off on the radio during most of the drive over.

Meiko claimed one of the two chairs in the living area for her own use, stared at the repeating information on the bottom of the screen, as Master went to the bathroom to wash his orange hands- and rinse his hair- in the sink. He reappeared a few moments later.

"Ah- I don't expect anyone thought to grab a towel from the house before we left..?" Master ventured. "Because there aren't any linens in the bathroom."

Meiko shook her head 'no.' "I didn't even think of it. I'm sorry, Master. I was right there in the bathroom, too, but, I..."

"It's okay, it's okay," Master reassured her. "We'll just have to drip-dry, is all. What's done is done, and at least we're out of the city now."

Meiko nodded and turned her eyes back to the flashing TV screen. Master sunk down in the other chair for a little while, joining her in staring quietly at the words moving on the screen.

...

Kaito frowned at the cast iron pan. He had been scrubbing the stubborn pan for several more minutes, but no matter how he scrubbed, it seemed like he just could not get the rust completely out. He rinsed the pan a second time. The orange dust washed away, and the pan darkened encouragingly, but it was an illusion. The rust was still there, and as the pan dried, the orange specks reappeared in earnest.

Kaito pulled the pan up next to his face and eyeballed it solemnly. The problem was those little, tiny holes... pockets... whatever. Like little tiny pores in the metal. It was inside of those pores that Kaito couldn't get the rust out of. The pan needed like... a pore refining facial scrub, or something like that. One of those products Meiko used from time to time.

Kaito smiled at the silly thought for a brief moment, but then blinked. It actually wasn't a bad idea. He set the pan down for a moment, and walked from the kitchen portion of the cabin to where Meiko and Master were watching the TV. Kaito's blue eyes took in the screen for a moment.

"Any luck, Kaito?" Master asked.

Kaito shook his head. "Well, I have an idea, but... Do we have a wash cloth I could use? It'll probably get pretty dirty though."

Master and Meiko exchanged a dry glance, and Meiko stood up quickly before Master could reply. She went into the bedroom, where the clothes bundle had been relocated. After a moment, she came back out and tossed a pair of Kaito's clean white cotton socks to him. Kaito caught it in confusion.

"Looks like we forgot the towels when we packed up, Kaito. Will those do in a pinch?" Meiko joked solemnly. Kaito looked unhappily down at the fabric in his hands.

"These are my socks!" Kaito exclaimed, appalled. "They go on my feet!"

"Don't be a baby, they're clean, and they're all you've got right now. Use them or don't," Meiko replied, uncaring of Kaito's plight, and trying not to share how funny she found his dismayed expression. Kaito was holding the pair of socks as if they were going to come to life, or something.

"My great aunt used to have this saying," Master piped up unhelpfully from his seated position, "'Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.' Seems appropriate, right about now, eh?"

Kaito's lips made weird movements as his forehead wrinkled, smoothed, and he finally turned, dismayed hand still holding the pair of socks, to move robotically back to the kitchen portion of the cabin. Meiko covered her mouth to hide her smile.


	7. Chapter 7

"How's it coming, Kaito? Any progress at all?" Master asked a short while later. Master's eyes took in the orange socks that were laying on the countertop as Kaito turned, brandishing the frying pan, and handed it over for Master's inspection. Master's jaw dropped.

"Holy- it looks great! How did you do this?" Master enthused and tilted the pan close to his eyes, finding not a speck of rust to be seen. Master turned his approving and surprised eyes back to Kaito, who was grinning and flushing a little in pleased response.

"This might sound strange, but the rust in those little grooves made me think of Meiko's facial scrubs, so I tried making something like that, out of some coconut oil and some salt, then just rubbed it until most of the rust came off, washed it, then did it again until it was clean like that," Kaito gestured, feeling a little proud of himself as he smiled at Master's obvious excitement.

Master patted Kaito's soft blue head, grinned, and admired the pan. "That's great, really great! You really have a knack for figuring out problems like this one, Kaito. I guess it's my turn now; if you want to go relax with Meiko for a little while, I'll see what I can whip up for our dinner, okay?"

Kaito nodded, still blushing and grinning slightly, and walked away to join Meiko in the had been trying to rid himself of. Master felt a little more cheerful at the prospect of having a normal, healthy meal in safety tonight. Doing it in only one pan would be a little bit of a challenge, but he didn't let it daunt him.

"Maybe something like spiced vegetables and brown rice? But I'd need a lid for the rice, uhhhm," Master debated, re-checked all the cupboards for anything that might do in the place of a missing pot lid.

A few moments later, he came up with the entirety of the contents of the rest of the cupboards: An old container of Ajax, a roll of aluminum foil, opened, and four very dusty, somewhat gross-looking milky glass mason jars without lids. There was a small spider spinning a tiny, delicate web in one of the four jars.

Master checked the aluminum foil container, and found it was almost empty. There was maybe a foot and a half left on the roll. 'Still, it should be enough,' Master reasoned, feeling pretty good about it.

Master accumulated all the ingredients he meant to use; rice, avocados, a couple carrots, two small onions, a variety of spices, the container of TVP. He washed the carrots and realized that he didn't have a vegetable peeler. There weren't any knives in any of the drawers, either. Peeling aside, how was he supposed to chop the vegetables up? Or open the avocados? Use his keys or something?

Master flashed back to a few weeks ago, when a friend of his had whipped out a folding knife to cut open a box in front of him. Master had, appalled, exclaimed, "Why do you need a knife for? That's dangerous, you shouldn't carry that!" and the pointed look of 'Are you stupid?' followed by, "To cut things with, obviously," that his friend had responded dryly with.

In this moment, Master indeed felt pretty stupid at his own ignorant reaction. A knife would be very useful right now. "Oh," Master said aloud, thinking of an idea. He popped his head out to Meiko and Kaito.

"Did either of you happen to think to bring like, a pair of scissors?" Master asked, hopefully. Meiko shook her head no, but Kaito piped up, "I brought our scissors from the bathroom, along with the rest of our hygiene stuff, Master. Do you want them?"

Master smiled, nodded yes. Kaito hopped up a little stiffly, and went to retrieve the asked-for item, handing it over. The scissors were small, for trimming hair not hacking open packages, but they were sharp. Maybe they would do in a pinch.

Master returned to the kitchen, and Meiko got up and followed him in. Master glanced at her, but all she did was bend over to the box of beers that Master had left on the floor, snag one, and open it with a satisfying-sounding, hollow metal pop. Meiko glanced at Master, took a long swig, smiled, and left the kitchen.

Master washed the pair of scissors, frowning as he realized that the liquid soap they had found in the bathroom was leaving a vague, greasy residue on the shiny metal, as well as a mild floral scent. Master turned the water on as hot as it would go, and tried to rinse the residue off as well as he could.

While the hot water was running, Master washed out the glass mason jars as well, feeling a little sorry for the small spider, as it was washed down into the sink. Miraculously it managed to walk on top of the water and Master watched it scurry up the side of the sink, to behind the counter. After the violence he had witnessed earlier in the day, he didn't have the heart to squash its tiny life. In any case, it was too small to bite anyone.

Master refilled one of the mason jars with hot water and tried to be neat in pouring a small quantity of TVP into it, to rehydrate while he worked to prepare the rest of the ingredients.

The scissors worked pretty well for the avocados; they were sharp, yes, but thicker than the usual knife, and so the fruit smushed and bruised a little where Master sliced them open, but they were still good and usable. Heck, guacamole was fine, and it was smushed, so...

The onion was more difficult. Scoring the side of the onion and peeling the skin off was not too much harder than usual, but "chopping" it up with the scissors was almost impossible the normal way. Master's eyes watered torturously as the bruised vegetable screamed its complaint by squirting irritating juice and gas into his face. Master finally figured out how to hack little bits off at a time, and snipped the vegetable directly into the frying pan.

The carrots were an entirely different problem. At their small ends, the scissors made the pieces they removed bounce away wildly, making Master slap after them so they didn't rebound and end up on the floor. After the first two chops though, the scissors refused to cut through the thicker portions of the carrot. Master stabbed at one of the vegetables in great annoyance, and it returned the offense by jumping out of his hand and almost making him impale his own hand with the sharp pointy scissor edge.

Giving up, Master tried his best to break the carrot into pieces with his bare hands. The large, unsightly chunks did nothing to help his self-esteem as he stared down at them. But they would cook, and even if they were still a little crunchy, it would be okay.

Master wished to himself that he had thought to bring ketchup, or soy sauce, or flour, so he could make little imitation meatballs out of the TVP, as he checked its rehydration status. Not that the ketchup would keep in the room temperature cabin, but... it would have been nice to have. Pancakes and eggs would have made for a nice breakfast, too. 'But that's how the axe falls,' Master let go of his wistful thinking with a shrug, and decided to focus on the good things he DID have, instead of the things he had left behind.

Master's eyes went to the living area, and softened as he took in the sight of his two Vocaloids sitting there quietly. His eyes darkened a little, however, as the thought that there should be three, not two there, tortured him.

Master plucked a little coconut oil from its container to brown the onion and carrot with, and scraped it off on the side of the frying pan, sweatdropping as he realized he didn't know how he was going to stir the meal as it cooked. 'Maybe do it chef style? Where you toss the items in the pan?' Master's sweatdrop grew as he placed the pan on the gas burner of the stove, realizing he hadn't thought to check whether the range worked or not, before he and Kaito had gone to all this trouble.

Breath held, Master turned the burner's knob to "Light," heard the familiar "click, click, click" as the pilot tried to light, and suddenly there was fire. Master let out his breath in one long exhalation of relief.


	8. Chapter 8

When the onions had turned translucent, Master eyeballed the amount of rice he thought the three of them would eat, and used one of the clean mason jars to measure out twice as much water as grain, dumping the remaining ingredients into the frying pan, and adding pinches of cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder to the concoction. Once the mixture came to a boil, Master turned the heat off and burned his fingers while trying to crimp the piece of tinfoil effectively over the top of the frying pan.

Satisfied that dinner would cook itself properly as the rice steamed, Master left the kitchen and rejoined his Vocaloids in the living area.

"Anything new on TV?" Master asked, and knelt down onto the floor, sitting indian-style next to Kaito's currently claimed chair. "And by new, I mean news. Any new news?"

"The local channel issued an alert a few minutes ago; something about going to shelter areas if you are in the city. They mentioned a few places, and warned people not to approach anyone who looks unfamiliar or violent." Meiko responded, sipping her lukewarm beer and staring at the TV screen.

"The nightly news should be coming on," Kaito continued where Meiko had left off. "It's almost 6'oclock."

Master nodded, and relaxed his body, tried to center his thoughts and not get unnecessarily anxious while he waited. He placed his palms on his knees and sat patiently until the news introduction started to blare across the screen.

"And in our breaking story for tonight, there have been widespread outbreaks of mass violence sweeping across the state! In cities all over, authorities are responding, identifying this as an emergency situation for many residents and businesses. Here's more on the story as it unfolds. Tom?" The blonde-haired, busty news anchor turned her head and waited for a video feed to play.

"Hi there, Nancy. I'm here at City F, and as you can see, there's a police blocade behind me, stopping traffic from entering, or leaving, the state! These guys are taking their jobs seriously tonight, let me tell you. According to our sources, authorities are blaming a new steet drug, which they are calling 'Z-Tab' for the mass outbreaks of violence that are currently happening right here in our home state! We are being warned that this new drug has experienced an explosion of popularity, and causes extreme aggression, loss of ethical and moral consideration, and loss of inhibition." The lanky male newscaster reported in a high-pitched, nasal voice, full of excitement.

"Z-tab?" Master asked nobody in particular and frowned, then quieted and continued to listen to the news broadcast.

"Thank you, Tom," The female newscaster was back on the screen, "Now, authorities are indeed directing people to remain in their homes, but refuge centers /have/ been opened in the major cities being affected by this emergency. If your home is no longer safe, check with your local area to determine whether your nearest emergency location is at the fire department, local soup kitchen, Family Services, or a Senior Services center. Travel between states has officially been shut down until this crisis is resolved, and police are instructing that no one approach the state border." Nancy continued to speak.

"That's right, Nancy! However, this drug seems to be making its way across the state border anyways, as other cities in some neighboring states are now also experiencing this boom of violence. The important thing is to remove yourself from potentially dangerous or aggressive circumstances. If you think someone you know is taking this drug, do not approach them. Call your local police department, and keep a safe distance." A newscaster sharing the desk with the first news anchor had the camera moved to include him as he began his own commentary.

Nancy nodded, and began speaking once again, "For those of you who are at home, here is a list of the cities currently being affected by this street drug violence. Please remain in your homes, bar your doors, and shelter in place until police have calmed the situation down and informed you that it is safe to leave. In addition to travel inter-state being blocked off, the following cities have also been blocked off to all outgoing and incoming traffic, so if you are currently in one of these cities, do not attempt to leave the city at this time, or you /will/ be forced to turn around."

The screen flashed over to a lengthy list of city names. After a moment, the screen changed, and the list continued onto a new page of listings.

"Well, crap," Master said after a long pause. The sound of commercials in the background was ignored as he stared blankly at the screen, the image of the city's name that they were currently in burned into his retinas. Master stretched his legs out slowly, frowning, and looking a little disturbed.

"What is it, Master?" Kaito asked. 

"Are you serious, Kaito? You mean other than the fact that we're essentially trapped here? If we can't get in or out of the city..." Meiko asked, a little too tartly, her own face slightly anxious.

Master glanced over at his Vocaloids. "No, it's not that. I mean, it /is/ that, but we're about as safe where we are right now as we can expect to be, I think. It's... what that woman said about the cause. That it's a street drug? I don't think that she was telling us the truth. I've heard of Z-tab before and it's not some aggressive street drug. It's a vitamin pill for those with nutritional deficits." Master stared at the screen, as if waiting for more answers, but when the news came back on, there was no new information.

"So, they're lying to us?" Meiko asked, frowning. "Why?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm nervous," Master replied quietly.

"Maybe there's more information if you check their website, Master," Kaito suggested hopefully. Master perked up, and smiled at Kaito.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Master responded, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, clicking the buttons necessary to connect online. His finger tapped against the screen anxiously as he waited. And waited. The connection hung for a very long time. Master closed the browser and tried again. Waited. Finally, an error screen popped up. Master frowned in deep concern.

"It won't go through..?" Master asked the phone, confused. "The bars say there's reception here, though..."

"..." Kaito looked at the phone. "Master, can I try to call our home again?"

Master shook his head at the phone again and handed it over to Kaito. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll give it a few minutes and try to connect online again when you're done, Kaito."

Kaito dialed the number and held the phone up to his ear. A jarring tone sounded loudly out of the earpiece.

"All circuits are currently busy. Please hang up and try again." An unfriendly female voice bossed from the phone's speaker. Kaito clicked the "End call" button and tried again, with the same results. After a few more tries, he handed the phone back to Master's waiting hand.

"I guess we'll just have to be patient," Master admitted unhappily, then sat back down on the floor and stared back at the TV screen again. "I'll try again after dinner. Our food should be ready by the time the news is over with."


	9. Chapter 9

Master carefully peeled the aluminum foil from the frying pan, but ended up burning his fingers again anyways.

"Ouch!" He called out and sucked on his fingertips, then pushed the foil the rest of the way out of the way, annoyed, visually checked the rice... it looked good, smelled good. Steam rose up fragrantly, and Master's stomach twisted and growled as if it hadn't eaten all day. Master grabbed the handle and yelped. It was still super, super hot.

Master poked his head in to the living area again, where his two Vocaloids were slacking off and looking lackluster as the TV droned on in the background.

"We're going to have to let dinner cool down for a little while," Master announced, then hesitated and admitted, "And, uh, remember how I forgot the pans? I kind of forgot the silverwear and plates, too. We're going to have to eat with our fingers."

Meiko stared back at Master, her arms crossed over her chest, and he could feel the beginnings of a sweatdrop forming. Master glanced at Kaito. The bluenette was silently looking at him too.

"Oh, come on guys, it'll be fun. It's like, an adventure, heh... heh heh..." Master trailed off. "Okay, look, maybe it would have been great to bring everything we'd need, but we were expecting to go to like, a hotel, not to a cabin in the middle of a back road. Cut me a little slack here."

"I'm sorry, Master. I know you're doing your best," Kaito said, turning his blue eyes to the ground.

"Kaito, don't encourage him, it's bad for his ego," Meiko stated bluntly, but then smiled a little, and relaxed her arms and continued softly, "We know you're doing your best. We wouldn't have escaped safely if it wasn't for you, Master. So don't be too hard on yourself." 

Master smiled back, his heart lifting a bit, and Meiko continued, "...But don't mess up again! Next time, pack everything!" Meiko's outstretched finger pointed at Master's nose, and he couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, Meiko, next time the world goes insane, I'll make sure to bring everything but the kitchen sink, even if it takes us hours to pack it all up," Master said, feeling comfortable enough again to tease slightly.

"You should bring the sink, too, Master," Kaito added, eying Meiko out of the corner of his eyes and grinning. "Meiko might need it for her beauty regimine."

"Wha..! Why, you!" Meiko moved her hand to swipe at Kaito, and the bluenette broke into a laugh and tried to dodge her, his hands over his head as he ran behind Master and pretended to hide behind the man. Meiko started to chase Kaito, then stopped suddenly, and a weird look passed over her face.

Kaito's grin faltered as he peeked over Master's shoulder from where he was 'hiding.' "...Mei-chan?" Kaito asked.

"Ummmm," Meiko muttered, twisting her face weirdly. "Kaito, is all the hygiene stuff in the bathroom right now?"

Kaito nodded, and rose back up to his normal height, sensing that playtime, brief as it was, was over. Meiko turned and almost tripped over her empty beer can as she silently walked away with almost awkward steps to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her with an air of finality.

Kaito and Master exchanged glances.

"Don't ask me, girls are a mystery," was all Master had to offer, sweatdropping.

...

Meiko rummaged around in the canvas tote that held the hygiene supplies Kaito had packed up. The re-usable shopping bag was emblazened with the logo for their local food Co-op grocery store. Meiko moved aside shampoos, conditioners, Master's electric razor, shaving cream, and a few other items before her eyes spied a package of tampons with a sigh of grateful relief.

Rummaging through the wastebasket of things she had grabbed from the medicine cabinet revealed a small, wonderful bottle of acetaminophen. Years of drinking city water made Meiko smart enough to not trust drinking directly from the tap, and she swallowed two of the small pills dry.

...

Meiko returned from the bathroom, looking much more comfortable with herself. Kaito glanced up as she walked to his chair and plopped a delicate hand heavily on his blue hair. Meiko stared down at Kaito, unspeaking for a long moment, making Kaito grow nervous.

"You did good, Kaito," Meiko finally allowed, and removed her hand from its resting place. Kaito blinked, clearly wondering what it was he had done.

Meiko turned her back on Kaito to go to the kitchen without further explaination, and grabbed a second, room temperature beer from its flimsy cardboard box.

...

"Can you grab me something to use as a pot holder, Meiko? This pan handle is still too hot to move it with, but the food is probably cool enough to handle if we're careful, now," Master said, and his stomach rumbled its assent.

Meiko didn't bother putting her beer down, but went into the bedroom and came back with another pair of Kaito's socks. Kaito's scandalized expression as he realized another pair of his socks was going to be sacrificed for the greater good was hilarious to the brunette Vocaloid female, but she made sure not to let her lips twitch too far upwards as she handed the items over to Master.

"Thanks," Master said, and returned to the kitchen. A moment later, he reappeared in the living area, and set the heavy metal pan down in the middle of the hardwood floor, so that the three could gather around it.

"I'll boil some water once we're done with the pan," Master explained, "Since we don't know if the water is safe to drink. I wish I'd thought to bring some tea along. There's always some of my protein drink mix though, if you guys want some of that in your water."

Kaito and Meiko were not quick enough to hide the blanch of horrified disgust from the memory of the last time they had tried Master's protein beverage powder.

"Um, that's okay, Master," Kaito offered weakly. 

"Yeah, I... think I'd rather have water. Or beer," Meiko grinned, forcing the expression a little too hard through her wide eyes.

"Give me a break, it's not /that/ bad," Master sulked childishly. "I drink it all the time!"

"Uh huh," Meiko replied, clearly unconvinced. Kaito took his cue from Meiko and grinned awkwardly back at Master. Master rolled his eyes and sighed loudly like a petulant child.

"Fine, do what you want!" Master threw his hands up in the air, but then smiled after a moment to let his Vocaloids know he wasn't too mad.

"So, uh, how do we do this? Just dig in?" Meiko wondered aloud and stared at the food in front of them. Master replied in the affirmative, and demonstrated by carefully grabbing a few fingers worth of food and starting to chow down on it. Meiko hesititantly followed suit.

"Umm, what about... chopsticks, Master?" Kaito asked after a moment, not picking up his portion of food quite yet.

"I didn't pack those either," Master replied, swallowing his mouthful. It might have been a little unusual preparation, but the food tasted wonderfully good, and Master was hungry.

"Um, no, I mean... well, there are plenty of trees and plants outside, couldn't we just make some chopsticks, and use those?" Kaito asked.

"I actually thought about that, but..." Master paused in his eating for a moment. "We don't have a knife to peel the bark off with. I don't want to risk ruining the scissors; they're all we've got, and I don't want to slice my thumb off by accident, either. Plus it's dark out. I don't think we should be out there, and especially not when we can't even see what kind of plant or tree we're taking sticks from. They might be poisonous or something."

Kaito nodded for a moment, then replied, "Well, what about using a rock, maybe?"

"To eat with?" Meiko asked, casting a sidelong look at Kaito.

"I mean, to get the bark off. There are some sharp-looking ones out front. I saw them when I was looking for the house key, earlier," Kaito elaborated. Master stopped eating again, and looked at Kaito in surprise.

"That's a pretty good idea, actually, Kaito. When it's light tomorrow, if it looks safe outside, maybe you can find some tree branches that would work and give it a try," Master agreed after finding no fault with Kaito's theory. Kaito smiled, encouraged.

"Now, help us eat this food up. There's no refrigerator to keep leftovers in, this time," Master smiled back, and Kaito nodded, eyed his slim, pale fingers for a moment, and used them to dig in. There was a moment of peaceful chewing, then Meiko held up something in her hand.

"Master, I think I found the carrot you used," Meiko said, deadpan. "The whole carrot."

Master sweatdropped badly. Kaito grinned with his whole mouth.

"Maybe you could use a couple rocks to smash vegetables with next time, too, Master," Meiko raised one eyebrow as Master as he grabbed the carrot piece and destroyed the evidence as he pushed the whole enormous chunk into his mouth at once, chewed, and swallowed it, then gave Meiko the evil eye.

Meiko grinned and went back to her meal and her beer in silence and Kaito wisely followed suit, a small smile playing on his lips.


	10. Chapter 10

The phone rang. Master jumped, still seated, at the noise. He stood quickly, licked off his fingers and pulled the phone out of his pocket, almost fumbling it.

"Is it Lily?" Meiko demanded in excitement. Kaito sat up straight, a look of intense focus on his face. Master glanced at the screen and answered.

"Hey, sis," Master said, and Kaito and Meiko both slumped a little bit.

"I've been trying to get through to you for an hour!" A scolding voice came through the phone loud enough that both Master's Vocaloids could clearly hear it. "Are you okay? The news is saying some crazy shit about your neck of the woods!"

"Yeah, we're... we're okay. We got out of the city. We're in an abandoned cabin near City X right now," Master replied. "It's kind of dicey, but we seem to be safe right now. But they've closed off travel, so we can't get out."

"What? My baby brother, President of the ethics committee, squatting? This I've gotta see," The female voice said, amused. "I'm really glad you're okay, though. Those outbursts of violent activity? They're popping up around my state, too. The news said it was something about a street drug gone crazy."

"I'm not so sure they're telling the truth about that. Listen, these outbursts are no joke. If they're happening near you, you should pack up and leave, right now, go somewhere safe." Master frowned anxiously.

"I'm the one that should be telling you that. But it's okay, none of the cities being affected are near to me. I think you should come visit me, as soon as the roadblocks are lifted. Stay until they get the situation figured out. Okay? I know you don't like taking charity, but we're family." The female voice sounded stubborn. Master's face softened.

"Thanks, we might take you up on that. I'm not sure when the travel ban will be lifted, though," Master replied. "And my phone service seems spotty right now. I tried to use it earlier and it just kept saying that all the circuits were busy and to try again."

"That's what it said when I tried your line, too. Maybe there are too many people trying to use the phone right now," Master's sister responded. "Back when we had that major storm out this way a few years ago, the same thing happened, now that I think of it. I was still able to get and send texts, though."

"That doesn't really make any sense," Master said, frowning, but shook his head. "Well, whatever works, right?"

"Keep me up to date if anything changes, but if you get the chance to leave, don't wait, just come. If I'm not home, I leave my spare key in the same place as before. You know where I mean, right?" Master's sister replied. Master grunted an affirmative.

"I'd better get off the phone now, to let someone else get their call to go through. Call me if you need anything, okay? Oh! And, tell Lily I found those flower seeds she said she wanted." Master's sister continued to speak.

Master swallowed, his face pinched. "...Yeah, I will do that. Thanks, sis. Talk to you later."

Master stared at the phone as the dialtone sounded. He glanced up at his unhappy Vocaloids. "Sorry, guys, but at least we have a plan, now. Which is more than we had before, right?" Master silently looked at his hands for a moment, thinking to himself.

'I /will/ tell her... if I ever see her again.' Master sighed and pushed the phone back into his pants pocket and sat back down to dinner, but the food didn't taste quite as good as it had just a few minutes before.

...

Master put a handful of small green mung beans into one of the glass mason jars and poured cooled, boiled water left over from the dinner meal over them, then drained the excess fluid into one of the other jars, and placed one of Kaito's dry socks loosely over the top of the jar with the beans to stop the moisture from evaporating too quickly. The matching sock of the pair rested on top of the faucet, where it had been left to dry after being used to wash the frying pan with.

"Bean sprouts?" Meiko asked over Master's shoulder, startling him.

"Yeah. If we're going to be here a few days, we're going to run out of fresh food pretty quickly. Once they sprout, they'll provide us with a bunch of healthy vitamins and minerals," Master began reciting, and Meiko smiled a small smile at Master's 'teacher's voice.' Master put the jar with its handful of moistened dry beans onto the dark corner of the counter.

Meiko rinsed her two empty beer cans out and left them next to the sink by the damp, clean frying pan.

"We don't have any blankets. We could probably use our extra clothes as makeshift blankets, though," Meiko started a conversation. Master nodded. "Also, there's only one bed."

"You two take the bed. I'll figure something out in the living room. Maybe put the chairs together or something. Three people would be a pretty tight squeeze, even for a queen sized bed," Master replied unthinkingly.

"I didn't bring pajamas for us," Meiko said.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. We all made some mistakes this time. We weren't ready for this," Master said, and turned his eyes away. "Just make do as best as you can for now, and we'll do the same. Okay?"

Meiko nodded. "I'll go let Kaito know the bed is ours tonight. If you want to switch tomorrow, we can take turns."

Master smiled at his female Vocaloids' consideration. "I'll keep that in mind, but I think it'll be okay. I want to take a quick shower before I turn in. Have Kaito close up the windows before we go to bed. My body feels like things are crawling on it."

...

The shower was blissfully hot, and the familiar scents of shampoo and conditioner were relaxing. Master stood for several moments in the tub, letting the worst of the water drip off of him, squeezing his short hair out with his hands and squinting through his eyes before stepping back out of the shower.

Master rummaged through the bag of toiletries like a thief in the night. He usually decried the use of Kaito and Meiko's hairdryer, but he felt like he was willing to make an exception tonight, if it meant not going to bed like a drowned rat. He realized after a few moments that the hair dryer must not have made its way into the bag and frowned in guilty disappointment.

Master shrugged, sighed, "Se la vie," and returned to look through the bag a second time for his brush. Also missing. "Oh, nooo," Master bemoaned himself. "Okay, this officially sucks now."

Just to be on the safe side, Master also checked the wastebasket with its things from the medicine cabinet. With a large sweatdrop, he found a prize: an old, clear plastic to-go zip bag with someone's forgotten overnight toothbrush, a spool of generic, non-environmentally-friendly dental floss, and a single black toothed comb, with the word "unbreakable" molded directly into the plastic. Master groaned to himself.

...

"You forgot our brushes?" Meiko said loudly, outraged. "How could you forget those?! And the hair dryer, too? You use that every day, how could you not remember to bring it?"

Kaito gave a helpless, despondant look. "I'm sorry, our brushes weren't with the other toiletries. We keep them in our rooms, so I didn't see them and I didn't think of them. We were in a rush, and I was worried about Lily! I'm sorry." Kaito's lower lip trembled despite himself as he flinched away from the scolding tone.

"...Arrrgh!" Meiko shouted and held her hair, trying to calm down. "Look, it's okay, I'm sorry, it's just, this has got me stressed out. I didn't mean to yell. I'm sorry, Kaito."

"We all forgot things. Don't beat yourself up, Kaito," Master said quietly as Kaito stared hard down at the floor and fought back frustrated tears. "It's no one's fault."

Meiko sighed once again, and crossed her arms. "It's okay. It's not like we have anyone to impress with our high style right now, anyways. We'll just have to share the comb. Okay, Master? Don't worry, Kaito, we'll manage. Just let me grumble for a little while. ...It'll be okay."

Master nodded. "That's the spirit. I knew I could count on you two." Master tried to smile, but the atmosphere was gloomy. "Let's go to bed. Maybe things will look brighter tomorrow morning. Sound good?"

The two Vocaloids rumbled their agreement, and Meiko and Kaito turned to go to the bedroom. Master eyeballed the two chairs in the living room and sighed, giving in to his own mild pessimism for a moment before grabbing his clean clothes, awkwardly arranging them on top of himself as a makeshift blanket, and uncomfortably settling in for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Master groaned as he woke up, his muscles in distorted agony. At some time during the night he had fallen out of the two chairs that he had tried to prop up together to work as a makeshift bed. Everything ached. He limped painfully to the bathroom and relieved himself, washed his face, and blearily put his contact lenses back in. Squinting, Master regarded his five o'clock shadow, and scowled. He grabbed for his electric razor.

...

The sound of soft buzzing woke Kaito, and he got up from the bed, tried to smooth his very rumpled clothes. He had slept very poorly, and Meiko practically kicking him in his sleep, jolting him into a fear response, as she turned over every now and then, had not helped any. Neither had the cold spring, night air.

His bladdar complaining, Kaito unhappily went to wait his turn outside of the bathroom. Master appeared as the door opened a few moments later, and grunted a semblance of a crusty "good morning" to Kaito. Kaito mumbled an exhausted response and slipped into the bathroom, relieved to be able to take care of his morning routine.

Unwilling to take up the bathroom for too long before Meiko got up, mostly for the sake of self-preservation learned from experience, Kaito left the bathroom door ajar.

"Oh, noooo," Master's voice moaned from the kitchen. Kaito's eyes opened in anxious alarm and he half-jogged to find out what was wrong.

"Master! What's-" Kaito's eyes took in the scene as Master half-turned, the frying pan in his hand. The pan was again covered in the orange rust Kaito had worked so hard to remove just the night before. "...Ohh."

Master scrubbed his face with his hand, holding the pan out for Kaito to take it. Kaito did so very reluctantly, looking utterly despondant.

The bedroom door banged open and a grumpy, rumpled Meiko with bedhead appeared in the kitchen. "Beer!" She demanded unreasonably, and Master jumped back out of the way until she had cracked open a can and taken a long swig. "Mmph," Meiko muttered after a moment, and her cranky expression softened, her exhausted eyes focused on Master and Kaito. "Ohayo."

"O-ohayo," Kaito offered nervously. Meiko first thing in the morning was a force to be feared. Her brown eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the orange pan in Kaito's hands. She sighed and took another long swig of her lukewarm beer.

"Well, Master, it's your socks' turn this time," Meiko announced.

"Wa.. wait, what?!" Master yelped. "Why my socks?"

"Because I only brought four pairs of everybody's stockings, and you've already used up two pairs of Kaito's. It's your turn," Meiko said, giving such a hairy look, as if daring him to complain further, that Master gulped, before bravely trying one last time to argue.

"But my socks are Smart Wool, they're not even cotton. And do you know how much more they cost than Kaito's socks? Why don't we use /your/ socks, Meiko?" Master blurted out, tiredness making him stupid. Meiko stared back, then cracked a sort of unpleasant smile. She stalked away and returned a moment later.

"Here ya go," Meiko said, almost cheerfully as she tossed a pair of nylons at Master's chest. "Help yourself, Master."

"I thought you said you packed reasonable, practical clothes for us," Master exclaimed, holding the pair of sheer nylons in his hands and almost yelling in outrage and consternation. Meiko smiled that unpleasant sort of smile again and responded.

"For me, this /is/ reasonable and practical. Don't you even ever notice what my clothes are usually like, Master? But if you'd rather use my socks than yours..." she trailed off, knowing she had won the arguement as a defeated, disgruntled look passed over Master's face.

Master glanced over at Kaito, and the bluenette intelligently lifted his hands up in the "I surrender" pose, and physically backed away from the arguement a step. Master sighed loudly and handed the pantyhose back to Meiko. "Go get a pair of my socks from the living room," Master allowed, displeased, cranky, and frustrated.

"Yessir," Meiko saluted with her beer can. Kaito released his held breath as she did as she was bade, and Master watched as Meiko handed over a pair of Master's socks to Kaito.

Master's scowl was not pretty as he realized that there was no way they could afford to waste another pair of socks should the pan grow yet another layer of new rust tomorrow morning. Master yanked the cell phone from his pocket and mashed the numbers in frustation, an irritating "Your call could not be connected, please try again" answering him.

Punching in a text message instead and sending it, Master hoped that his sister knew offhand what the solution to the rust problem would be.

...

It wasn't even 15 minutes later when Master's phone chimed that a new message had arrived. Master opened it impatiently.

'Did you season the pan? If it's cast iron...' was the cryptic reply. Master gnashed his teeth together. Season?! He typed back a quick reply.

'No. What kind of spice do you need to use to prevent rust?' Master hit send.

A minute went by, and Master tried to ignore the soft sound of Kaito ruining his wool socks in the background as he stared at the screen and willed it to answer.

'LOL no, not that kind of seasoning. You have to coat it in oil or crisco, and bake it for about an hour. It's called seasoning the pan.'

Another text quickly came after the first text: 

'I would pay to see you rummaging through your spice rack right about now'

Master facepalmed in gratitude and sheer annoyance. 'Thanks' he typed curtly back. Master sighed and put the phone back away.

...

Master rinsed his jar of mung beans with the leftover, clean, boiled water that he had saved from last night, draining them again and replacing the dry sock as a sort of airy cover on top again. This type of bean didn't require anything special to get it to sprout, beyond a rinse a couple times a day for a few days, and it felt good to Master to get /something/ done right.

Breakfast was more brown rice, rehydrated TVP, celery, two of the apples, 'chopped' roughly into pieces with the scissors, and several pinches of nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and curry powder, cooked together in the pan, once Kaito had cleaned it back out again. While it cooked, and with Master's okay, Kaito had gone outside and successfully broken off a few relatively straight sticks from a tree he knew was a pine, and spent several minutes looking for an appropriately sharp rock, before working to carefully scrape the bark from them.

The resulting, vaguely sticky chopsticks were mostly the same uniform size and length, and smelled green, of fresh pine, when Kaito came back inside to wash them off.

"Use the leftover boiled water from last night, just to be on the safe side, since we're putting them in our mouths, Kaito. We don't know whether the water here is safe to drink or not," Master directed and indicated the mason jar half full of clear water on the counter. Kaito nodded, and used a very sparing amount of the liquid soap to clean their new utensils with.

Master's aching body creaked as he returned to the living room to wait for the meal to complete cooking, and he groaned in pain as his muscles protested lowering himself to the floor to sit. Meiko joined him, her wet hair glistening from the shower, and blinked in surprise that Master hadn't chosen one of the chairs to sit in. She sank down in one of the said chairs and flicked the TV set on, scanning for the news.

...

"Once the water boils, pour as much of it into the jars as will fit and let it cool down. Sigh... I wish I had thought to bring /anything/ that could hold a larger quantity of fluid. It's going to get annoying fast if we have to replenish our drinking water after every single meal," Master bemoaned from his spot on the floor. 

It seemed like Master had been doing nothing but whining about one thing or another since he'd gotten up this morning, and Meiko wanted to roll her eyes, tired of it by now. Satisfied that her own job, washing up the dishes this time, had already been thoroughly covered, she left Kaito to fend for himself.

The bluenette joined her a few minutes later, as Master's tangent about how to 'season' the iron fry pan finally petered out, and Meiko exchanged a look of sympathy with Kaito. He looked a little harried, and more than a little exhausted, even though it was still only morning.

"Tag. You're it," Meiko said, putting a friendly hand on Kaito's shoulder briefly and passing the still-dripping pan back over to him. Kaito dried the bottom of the pan with the sock from the bean jar, reasoning that a little extra moisture wouldn't hurt the beans' growth as Meiko left him to his own devices.

Kaito's eyes took in the growing collection of beer cans on the counter top, and tilted his head, thinking, as he filled the pan with fresh water and placed it back on the stove, turning the burner on. Kaito grabbed the scissors.


	12. Chapter 12

"Can I use your phone to play a game, Master?" Meiko asked as a TV show blared in the background.

The news had come and gone, with not much new information, save an increased list of cities that had been shut down, and the information that Master and his Vocaloids already knew that the violence had been cropping up within other states, despite the fact that the borders had been locked down. The news still insisted that the cause of the violent outbreaks was due to a new street drug.

Master frowned down at the phone as Kaito reappeared in the living room. "I think I should actually shut the phone off for a while, Meiko, to save the battery. We don't know how long we'll be here, and I only have the car charger with me, after all."

"No!" Kaito exclaimed, making both of their heads turn to look at him. "What if Lily calls? We can't turn the phone off, Master! She won't know what to do."

Master frowned down at his phone. "I know what you mean, Kaito... I do, but..." Master sighed for a moment, thinking.

"How about this? I'll change the answering machine message to let her know that we're out of the city and safe, and we'll check the phone a couple times every day. If she calls, she'll be sure to leave a message. I know it's not ideal, but I think it's the smart thing to do under the circumstances. If we run out of phone battery, she won't be able to get ahold of us, anyways," Master said after a long moment of consideration.

Kaito's deep look of being appalled and unhappy was all the answer Master needed to know what Kaito thought of the plan, but it was Master's phone, and Master was deciding it. Kaito avoided Master's eyes and his face crumpled a little bit, not having a choice but to go along with Master's decision.

"Considering the state of the phones, she might not even be able to get through if she /does/ try to call," Master realized quietly to himself. 'If she's even still alive,' Master's mind whispered maliciously to him. "I'll shoot my sister a text too, and let her know that I'm shutting the phone down to save battery power."

...

Text sent, Master opened up the phone's answering machine and recorded a new message.

"I've turned the phone off for the moment, to save battery life. We're currently safe, in a cabin several cities away from home. When travel bans lift, we'll be heading to my sister's house. If you're listening to this message, please leave a reply after the beep. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you're in our thoughts. Hang in there. It might be scary, but we'll get through this together. I'll check the messages as often I can. Let me know where you are and how you're doing. Take care," Master finally finished his rambling message instants before the beep signaling that he had run out of time sounded.

Master turned off and closed the phone with a sigh. It felt like they were now really cut off from the rest of the world. Master's eyes turned to the flickering TV screen. At least they still had access to the news.

...

When Master went into the kitchen to start lunch, he noticed that the beer cans Meiko had left on the countertop had had their tops removed, and were full of cool, purified water. Master's eyebrow rose, appreciating the good idea designed to allow them to have more drinking water available readily.

Master "chopped" up another onion into the frying pan with a little coconut oil, cooked it until it was semi-transparent, then adding dry brown rice and tap water and spices, using his new chopsticks to stir the mixture before bringing it to a boil. Master cracked 4 of the eggs on top of the boiling water, then placed the piece of aluminum foil over the top to allow the meal to steam cook.

...

"Authorities are now calling a state of emergency for the state, and requesting disaster relief from the government," A news spokesperson related to the Vocaloids as a breaking news alert popped up, interrupting their programming.

Two pairs of eyes focused instantly on the TV.

"In this unprecedented wave of violence, aid in the form of military police, provisions for those trapped in their homes including food, water, and blankets, and monetary budgets geared towards dealing with the current situation are all being requested by a number of major cities across the state, leading to a general consensus to identify the crisis as a state of emergency."

"Civillians in the areas mentioned are instructed to remain calm, stay in your homes, and do not attempt to proactively defend yourselves in the event of arguments or attempted break-ins. In the event you are put in a situation where violence is necessary to defend your life, and it is impossible to flee, authorities are requesting the reminder be given that proactive defense will still be looked upon as a crime, and punished severely and accordingly to the severity of the offense. Unnecessary violence will be severely dealt with. This is an emergency situation."

"All homes should be equipped with the ability to remain self-sufficient for the next 48 to 72 hours. Do not attempt to leave your homes at this time to replenish your supplies. Rely on your emergency stores of food and water, stay away from windows and doors, and do not open your home to strangers."

"Residents who observe a crime being committed are instructed to retreat, do not engage, and alert your local police." The announcer ended, and the message reverted back to the normally scheduled local programming.

Meiko shared an aghast look with Kaito. Instead of the situation being resolved, it was deteriorating. Military police?

"Master," Kaito rose and called out, walking swiftly to the kitchen area, his blue eyes big with the new information. Meiko sat back in her chair after a moment, and looked down at the beer can in her hand. She took a long drink.


	13. Chapter 13

Rin woke up with a headache. 

"Uggh," she groaned, and literally rolled out of bed. Her small body hit the floor with an ungraceful thud, still caught up in her blankets. Disoriented robin's egg blue eyes under a head full of unbrushed blonde hair sticking out in tufts, peered dolely out from the mess, as she sought her coordination and was finally able to successfully untangle herself.

"Figures," Rin glanced at Len's bed as she stood up, still unbalanced. The blonde teen in question was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware that she could have used a hand a few moments earlier.

Shrugging, Rin walked to the bathroom. 'Not totally zombie-like, go me,' she thought to herself in tired humor, then held her head and rubbed it with the palms of her hands.

Put down the toilet seat ('Thanks, Len'), sit down, pee, wipe, flush. Stare stupidly into the toilet as it didn't refill with fresh water.

"Is it broken?" Rin tried flushing again. Still nothing. "Len! What did you do to the toilet this time?!"

A sound that might have been human came from the other room, then silence. Rin rolled her eyes, regretted it, and stopped herself before rubbing her head again. She turned on the faucet to wash her hands.

Nothing. 

"...Fuck. Is the water off..? Maybe it's not Len's fault. Thanks, building manager, for letting us know?" Standing there stupidly for a moment, then looking down at her hands, which wanted to be washed, Rin sighed, shrugged, resolved that they weren't dirty enough to worry too much about, slapped on some hand sanitizer just in case, and wandered out into the hall.

"Computer, computer, I love you, computer," the blonde girl sang loudly under her breath. "COMPUTER I LOVE YOU, LET'S PLAY THEN EAT BREAKFAST! LEN-KUN," she added helpfully at the top of her lungs, then listened. A sound that might have been human or might have been the Loch Ness monster sounded from the bedroom. Rin grinned.

One of the lights was off on her laptop. She frowned, folded opened the computer, hit the 'on' button, and waited for it to boot up. When it did, she was alerted that the computer wasn't charging. Battery: 32%. 

"I plugged you in last night, you should be charged 100%, computer," the blonde girl said, now very awake. Computer issues were nothing to sleep through. "First the toilet, now this... is your charger cable okay? Hang in there, computer. I love you and will take care of you."

Unplugging and replugging did nothing. Rin frowned, then got up to look at the power strip. Maybe the safety had switched on and needed to be reset. Her headache was getting a little better, but the light on the power strip was also off, and poking it did nothing.

"Is it the power? But this building is supposed to have generator backup. It's why it costs so much to live here!" At a loss, Rin stared at the computer a long moment. It looked so trustingly back up at her. 31% power.

"Len! Get up! The power's off to our computers!" Rin yelled, an edge of panic in her voice.

Literally half a second later, moving at faster speed than could be fathomable, Len appeared. His blanket was still wrapped around one of his legs. His knees hit the carpeted floor with matching thuds, as his hands reached out to grab his baby.

"What the hell did you do?!" Len shouted at Rin, his eyes huge. "I'm running on battery power here!"

"It's not me; the water's off too. The generator must be down!" Rin shouted back, equally distressed. "Call the building manager!"

"Fuck!" Len stated in punctuated alarm, and smacked his hands all over his desk to find his smartphone. "You look online; find out what's going on!"

Nodding, Rin sat down smoothly, her hands touching the keyboard. Instantly, some of the panic quelled; she was driven now, anxious, and needing answers. But the answers weren't to be found there: the network was down. "Internet's... down, Len."

Len stopped mid-press of the phone buttons. Slowly he looked up, looked over at Rin. Their gazes met, silently. 

"We're... not connected?" Len asked numbly. Rin just stared back. "...Check again."

"Len-"

"Check again!" His face a mask of cold fear, Len pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear.

/All circuits are busy. Please try again later./

Len couldn't breathe. He couldn't lower the phone. He listened again, again, again. Rin turned, met his eyes again. She shook her head slightly, her own light blue eyes just as wide as his, desperately needing an answer from him.

"Rin..? We..." Len swallowed, closed his eyes tightly against the moisture that was threatening to burn him there. "The zombie apocalypse? Is... here." 

...........

'No wonder I had a headache,' Rin thought to herself, glancing at all the electronics that usually were running 24/7. Not just the computers and lights. The fridge. The TV. The fans. The A/C/Heating unit. Even the clocks usually created their own faint hum. She was used to it, comforted by it. But now, those sounds were gone. It felt scary.

"We need to shut down," Len had said, staring at her computer and not really seeing it. "Conserve the battery until we have a plan."

"We have a plan," Rin had responded quietly, feeling as numb as her brother's face looked. 

'Well, I call him my brother but Len... he's really just... my mirror image, after all,' Rin found herself distracting herself with the stray thoughts that came into her mind. 'But do we REALLY need to put into place the Zombie Apocalypse initiative? I mean... the lights will come back on. The internet connection being broken... it means all our work is interrupted. Maybe the data has been corrupted or partially lost. Or fully lost. And it hasn't been THAT long... I shouldn't worry too quickly.'

She knew better, though. For her laptop to be at that level of power, the generators must have been down most of the night. The generators that their building complex had advertised as never failing. And no one had knocked on their door to inform them of any developments.

'We specifically chose this expensive complex to live in just so we'd never lose power,' Rin thought. 'It was never supposed to actually happen. That's why we joked around in calling this 'worst-case scenario' the 'apocalypse.' What do we do, if our precious work was irrevocably damaged? What do we do if... the power is actually... gone? What if it doesn't come back? ...Computer... I need to be with you. What if it's the end?'

"Cheer up," Len said, though he had a grim tone to his voice. Rin's thoughts must have been apparent on her pale face. "Listen. Even if the grid is down and OUR building's generator is down, and even if it's down for the count, this isn't the end. This is why we do our backups. Even if everybody's generators are fried, it's still not the end. People make those generators. People like us. We'll get back online. Our project will be alright. Even if this were an actual apocalypse with actual zombies. Just watch and see."

"I've never made a generator in my life, Len-kun," Rin said. But his words had had the desired effect. They didn't just have to sit back and wait in anxiety. If the waiting went too long, they could act, could find a way to restore power. Until then... "Alright. Let's start. Assess, respond."

"...And enact," Len nodded, glanced back at their living area, tightened the straps on his backpack, and looked down at the paper list in his hand. Power banks. Water. Handheld radios. Batteries. Cleaning supplies. Trash bags.

Rollerblades.


End file.
